Currently Reading: 12 to 19 March 2023

Currently Reading

- The First Binding by R.R. Virdi (57%)

- The Storm Singers by Michael Boccardi (17%)

- Magpie Training by Irene Glasse (62%)

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Reading Goal

15/100

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I finished one book since we last spoke, and soft-DNF'd a few. Just books that I know I won't be able to get back go until May at the earliest, so while I'm less than 50 pages in, I'll put them aside. You'll notice however, that I still have The First Binding by R.R. Virdi going. I'll explain that one...

G announced a bit ago, that she was going to do a year-long "choose your own adventure" style readathon to go along with Orilium, called "A Year in Aeldia." Aeldia is the magical fantasy land where the Orilium Academy happens to be. So this is all about exploring various places within the country over the course of the year. 

For January I chose to go left [start a series] and I read Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. The second book, whose name I have since forgotten but think has the word "books" in it, has been announced recently. Now I know which way I'm going, at least to start. In February my options were to either Go to the Forest [Read a book with trees on the cover] or Go Towards the Lake [read a book with water on the cover]. I went to the forest, and read The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz which has trees all over the cover of the book. Now in March, there is a single prompt for those of us that went to the left: Fight a Giant [Read book 500+ pages]. The only book I had already started that would fit the category was: The First Binding as literally every other one fell just short of the goal. The others all landed somewhere between 450 and 480 pages. Not quite enough to fit the prompt. 

As of 13:00 on 19 March 2023, I'm sitting at 472 pages. I have 43% more to go before I finish with it and can cross tackling the giant from the list. There is no prompt next month, since the students will be at the academy and we will have our own prompts separate for that. 

Other than reading that...I've been playing Scarlet and deciding what I want to do as far as my Camp NaNo April project goes. I'm not doing my normal 30k. I've halved it just to err on the side of caution. Even with the ridiculous amount of reading I have as a Godseer (to Velinas, God of Death and Rebirth), 500 words per day (which I can continue on into May and June) seemed like a decent amount.

That just about covers it...I'm leaving the project secret for now...perhaps in the future  will share what I went with. Until next time~

Currently Reading: 05 to 11 March 2023

 Currently Reading

- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (01%)

- Small Favors by Erin A. Craig (09%) 

- The First Binding by R.R. Virdi (12%)

- Suspicious Minds by Gwenda Bond (52%)

- The Storm Singers by Michael Boccardi (08%)

- The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch (02%)

- Magpie Training by Irene Glasse (62%)

* * *

Reading Goal

14/100

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Only minor progress has been made since last Saturday. I did read, but not as much as I could have. Picked up a copy of Pokémon: Scarlet. I've been playing it pretty hard for the last two days. I'm also terribly lost. Followed a friend up to a waterfall and now I have no idea where I am.

In other bookish news, G at Book Roast has dropped the announcement for the 2023 Spring Equinox for the Orilium Readathon. I'm so excited. She introduced two new career paths, and while one of them definitely seems like something Aurin would do...I have come to the conclusion that keeping his current career path of Godseer to Velinas still fits his backstory better. I will definitely be posting the April to be read with the prompts and my choices.

Other than that....nothing actually happened. So, I'll see you all next week!

March 2023 To-Be-Read

I had been considering this, and remembered to upload it for January. I didn't do it in February, but hey, let's do it for March!! Like every month, there are going to be six books that I am putting up on the list that I want to get to. Everything else is a bonus. 

Print

1 - The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - This one is on the list as it is the March 2023 Book of the Month selection and I have decided (and have been keeping up) with actually reading each month's choice now in the month I've selected it. 

2 - The First Binding by R.R. Virdi - I added this one because I want to support an old friend of mine and an author I know. I'm still proud of him for being picked up by Tor, one of the bigger names in the publishing field for adult high fantasy works. 

3 - Small Favors by Erin A. Craig - I remember someone talking about this on BookTube and/or BookTok and I found it cheaply enough (like $4?) on BookOutlet, so I grabbed it and immediately put it on March's TBR. I cannot wait to get through it. The description is very much reminding me of The Village. 

Digital

4 - The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal - There is no specific reason that I put this on here. I just grabbed a book at random from my Kindle library and went, this one will do. I am a fan of Good Mythical Morning and cannot wait to see how this plays out. 

5 - The Storm Singers by Michael Boccardi - I do not even for a second remember what the plot was. Brain just saw pretty cover available for pre-order for like $10 and was sold. The cover is absolutely stunning and its some kind of epic high fantasy involving magic and people doing things they really ought not to. 

Audio

6 - The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch - Much like #4, there was no specific reasoning. I have a little picker wheel that has all of the audiobooks I have yet to listen to on it, and I just spin the wheel and go with whatever it says. This month it spit out this book. I remember having this one recommended by my friend RW, and that's all. Don't remember at all what it's about or anything. Adventures!!

Currently Reading: 01 to 04 March 2023

Currently Reading

- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (01%)

- Small Favors by Erin A. Craig (02%) 

- The First Binding by R.R. Virdi (02%)

- Suspicious Minds by Gwenda Bond (08%)

- The Storm Singers by Michael Boccardi (07%)

- Magpie Training by Irene Glasse (62%)

* * *

Reading Goal

14/100

* * *

Ended up changing my goal for the year. Instead of 75 books, I'm just going to make it an even 100. I never actually care whether or not I reach the goal, so why not go for broke? I used to set my goal for 100 books every year. Not that I'm in any way close to that goal. I think I'm behind by like, 5 or 6 books. It is what it is. The goal is never to surpass. It's only to see how close I can get. 

So I went on a small binge at the end of February. You'll  notice I've skipped over pretty much the entire month. It was mostly just me acquiring books and then reading them. I happened to catch, via Peruse Project on BookTube, that one of the people I knew from an old indie publisher that has since gone under had a new book out. Naturally I had to run to the bookstore to see if they had it. I checked my local's online catalog. They did not have any in stock, but I could order it for delivery. I had a weird time with their delivery service over a book I'd pre-ordered...however, the slightly further away Books-a-Million had it in stock. I bout cried when I got my hands on it. 

When I first looked up The First Binding by R.R. Virdi, do you think I had any idea it was an 830-page behemoth? Of course not. Did I care in any way, shape, or form? Also no. The book mark I use for it is even the one that he sent to me, signed in gold sharpie (which I put tape over to preserve forever). Even though I generally dislike and don't use the ones without the tassels on them. In fact, once I finish here, I'm going to jump right into reading this!

I'm sure you've also noticed that February isn't even here. We skipped from the middle of January to the beginning of March. No February. I realized that too much probably has happened since my last entry for me to actually remember, so I've just gone and skipped. Why try to force my memory when I know there will be nothing there? I will go back over my reading journal entries and see what I can come up with for the blog though, that I will add here. 

I managed to read 7 books in February. Impressive, I know. For me that's a lot. Usually I can only get through like 3-4 at the most. In January, it was 6. In February, it was 7. So far in March, I've finished 1. Overall, not bad for someone who doesn't have as much time as they'd like to read. Or doesn't read as much as they probably could be. Like, I could have read something last night after work, I got out at 16:00, but I was just so tired I could hardly focus. 

Oh yes, I ordered and received an absolutely ridiculous number of books in late January/early February. I do not remember what January's total ended up being, but February's was 25. There were three separate instances in the one order where I hit the "+" apparently and ordered two copies of the same book. One was a sequel, which I've put up in my PangoBooks page, and the other two were firsts in their series that I'm sending to a friend of mine. Hopefully she likes them. I'm still laughing at the fact I didn't check.

Ah, yes, I bought myself a new Kindle. The Paperwhite 2022 Signature Edition. And boy do I love it. I've ready 3 books already? Possibly more, and I've only just gotten it in the beginning of February. My favorite part of it isn't even that it's got close to five times the amount of storage space. My favorite thing about it is the adjustable light and warmth. I can make it perfect for my eyes while reading. It's possibly my new favorite toy I've purchased for myself. 

I think, considering that was a lot for the first four days of the month, I will stop for now. Perhaps I will actually remember to stick to the goal for the month and remember to upload next weekend!! Until then, have a good week, my pretties!